SasuNaru It's a Hard Life
by Layalas
Summary: Naruto's just the general fairly run down gambler of Konoha. It's not really his fault he's kicked out of every Casino he goes to. Then he runs into old school friends and a certain raven, not the best thing ever. Eventual Yaoi, SXN, Reveiws welcomed.
1. The Beginning

**_AN:_** Hello all. This is technically my third Fan fiction, but the first I am actually planning to finish and it is also the first I have shown to the public with any hopes of actually finishing it.

There isn't much else I have to say at the moment. Only that the updated chapters will come fairly iregularly, and that the first few chapters suck but it will improve. It is meant to be an eventual Yaoi between many people, the over all one obviously being Naruto and Sasuke.  
Lots of horizontal lines and such in this. I'm a weirdo when it comes to formatting and there are a lot of breaks between places in quick succession because this chapter is written fairly badly. - -;;

Without further ado: let this fiction begin.

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_**SasuNaru It's a Hard Life**_

_**Chapter 1**_

The mid-wife was in a state of panic. She was being called out to a home birth tonight and the traffic was as horrible as it usually was on a late Saturday night in Konoha. She'd told herself to leave earlier but various things had gotten in the way of her leaving. The brown hair middle aged woman tapped at the steering wheel impatiently, glancing down at the clock as she did. 12:30. so it was officially October 10th. She winced as a car horn behind her reminded her she was supposed to be moving.

* * *

Namikaze Minato was pacing frantically around the front room of their respectably small house. It wasn't the biggest thing in the world but it had been a start. His partner they were not due to be married for several months yet was screaming in agony on the couch, blood and embryonic fluid covered that side of the room. Muffled screams of a crying baby could also roughly be heard as it fought desperately to be born. Minato didn't know what to do; he kept looking out the window to see when the mid-wife would get here. Uzumaki Kushina panted heavily as the contractions continued, letting another scream escape her lips. No one else was coming to check on them, even though they lived in quite a crowded area. Everyone was either drunk or out on the town tonight. Neither noticed the smoke that seemed to be seeping into the room, they were in too much of a panic over the baby.

* * *

Further away in roughly the same sort of house, just a different area of Konoha, a small child was being helped into bed by his mother. They had decided to stay in that day. The mother and the father were the proud parents of two little boys, though the first was much older than the second. The baby had been born just a few months before on the 23rd of July. He was now sleeping peacefully unaware of everything that was happening in the world around him. The mother kissed his cheek affectionately as she left to go to the front room, where she thought her husband would be watching the TV.

* * *

The mid-wife gasped a sigh of relief as she turned off of the busy streets and she soon had the car going at 70mph down the small side streets. There were no cameras around here and she prayed she wouldn't get caught by any police that happened to be passing. The brunette was killing herself already over what was happening. 12:45. It had taken her another 15 minutes to leave the busy streets. It took her another 10 to reach the house. It was exceptionally dark tonight; clouds had covered all the stars and the moon. Had they not she might have seen the smoke through the windows before then. Gasping for breath she climbed out of the car, grabbing her kit as she went. Unfortunately she didn't get much further than that. A large bang sounded as fire started to leap out of the lower windows. The mid-wife screamed in horror before darting off to a neighbouring house. No one home. She fled quickly to the next house and the one after that, trying desperately to reach a phone to call the police, the ambulance anyone.

* * *

Across the streets of Konoha another bang reached the ears of a different brunette. She stopped dead on the stairs, her eyes dilating with such shock and horror she didn't know whether to continue down or hide with her son. Slowly she crept down the stairs and glanced around the corner. There was another shot, quickly followed by many in rapid succession. She froze where she was, spotting the large pool of blood that crept slowly out of the door to the front room. Her nerves broke and she collapsed onto the stairs where she stood begging it was something else.

In the front room itself, a young boy stood with a pistol in his hand, pointing it firmly at the chest of the dead man on the sofa. There was no hint of remorse in his eyes, even though that had been his father. He thought calmly over how things had just happened.

"_Why Itachi? Why like this?" begged the man, clutching at the whole in his chest. Itachi had missed his original target by the fact his father had suddenly lunched forward. _

"_I'm getting tired of this life, this pitiful way of living." He answered calmly, firing another shot._

"_There's nothing here for me, and you have no life to be proud of so why should I expect you to be able to get me one?" He shot again and again and again, even when it was obvious he was dead he kept shooting. Itachi only stopped himself when he remembered there was another to kill._

Looking up Itachi calmly walked out of the front room and into the hall. Blood slowly soaked into his socks but he ignored the warm sticky sensation. He knew how the police worked, leave any finger prints and they find you; leave your shoe style they are bound to find you. Luckily for him they had chosen red carpets to match the family symbol. Of course he was planning to leave as well so he travelled into the kitchen and found two bags which he would use later. Stuffinf them into his pockets he turned around again and walked calmly to the stairs.

He could hear his mother's sad sobs; her irregular breathing patterns and her pitiful prayers to God. Rounding the corner their eyes met and she seemed to look revealed for a brief second until she recognised the look in his eyes.

"Itachi, oh God, my little Itachi…" she pleaded. She hadn't even seen the pistol yet.

"Good Night mother…" He responded calmly, before lifting his gun and shoting one shot cleanly through her forehead. She was dead before she'd even hit the ground at his feet. 1:09

* * *

Finally the mid-wife had reached a phone and called the fire service, ambulance and police. It seemed like ages before they arrived but it was only about 1:07 when they did. The ambulance was on standby, the attendants were Shizune and Tsunade, who didn't look to have that much of a job to do afters. There was only one policeman on scene, the famous Hatake Kakashi. His partner Asuma had been called to an incident not too far away concerning an Uchiha family.

The firemen pulled three bodies out of the burning wreckage. 1:09 the male and female were pronounced dead. The female was dead from child birth, far before the flames had reached her. The male had died protecting the baby from the fire. The baby was certainly awake and it was later suggested he would have relapsing dreams about this considering how much of a tragedy it was for him.

Tsunade sighed heavily as Kakashi announced it was a pure accident from leaving the kitchen appliances running. Shizune put the bodies in the ambulance, noticing that the father was clutching a small piece of paper in his hand.

* * *

Itachi stood over his little brother dauntingly, considering what he should do. Itachi was surprisingly well built for his age, due to his like of physical activities. The baby yawned quietly in his sleep before rolling over and turning motionless again, all except for his chest which moved with a steady rhythm.

Itachi slowly reached his hand down into the cot. At first glance it would seem he was going to strangle the young boy, but then his hand changed positions and instead he stroked the cheek of his brother in an almost loving fashion. He then retracted his hand and proceeded to leave the room.

"Remember this day, little Sasuke. You'll see me again"

It was 1:11 when Asuma reached the house. It had reached a point where the blood of the male and female were mixing in the hallway. Sasuke had, soon after Itachi left, begun to cry in unrest. Asuma sighed and walked carefully through the house.

It would be stated later that the killer was unknown and that Itachi had been kidnapped. A missing persons announcement would go up later that morning and Sasuke would be given over to either a relative or an orphanage somewhere in the area. No one would suspect Itachi as the culprit and Sasuke would never really get to know his parents or his brother.

* * *

Another baby cried in the distance. A small bright eyed, blond haired child whose face cut had been cut in three places on each cheek similar to fox whiskers.

That would later become his favourite animal and nickname. He would most likely bear a fear of fire for the rest of his life and grow up in an orphanage due to the fact he had no other known relatives. His cut marks would have to be glued together with a kind of sterilized glue due to the fact the babe would show signs of allergic reactions to all forms of stitches, meaning the marks would be there for the rest of his life.

Shizuna carefully removed the piece of paper from the male's hand. The baby would take his mothers name, though it would always be assumed by everyone but the people at the scene of the accident that it was his father's name.

Scarwled quickly and messily on the small piece of paper was one final request.

_Keep my son safe, my little Uzumaki Naruto._

* * *

**_AN: _**I will humor my life and update this. Don't expect many essays as far as Author Note goes. There's only one of me and I rarely have anything to say.  
However: I am rather annoyed that the actual story for not letting me use underscores, upwards arrow head things, and cidillas. The cidillas in particular (namely the key which gives you a squigly line) because I'm quite partial to the cidillas. They practically litter my profile. But enough about my typing habits...

Peace out to you.

_- Layalas -_


	2. Life As Normal

**_AN:_** Okay so here's a chapter 2, which I actually very almost forgot to upload. I'll put a little bit more of an Author's Note at the bottom, else It'll just be a tad too random for my tastes.

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_**SasuNaru - It's a Hard Life  
Chapter 2**_

There was a thick carpet of snow covering the streets of Konoha, and a chill in the air that some people, had they paid just a little more attention, would have thought was slightly more than the snow. Enjoying this spectacle, as snow was not the most common thing in Konoha and only happened during the one select month of December, was a young adult male. Sure, he often acted more often or not younger than he was, but everyone has their faults. The blond was actually 20 as of a couple of months ago.

Naruto sighed, turning to begin another slow trudge through the snow. He missed the younger years of his youth, when he would run about in the snow pretending everything was okay. Dismissing the thought he looked up smiling to himself, thinking of how he was going to wipe the smile off of the dealer's face at the casino.

Naruto was, by trade, a gambler; and a very good one at that. People knew him now because he seemed to be the only one in Konoha that always wore orange. More often or not he was sporting his favourite orange jacket, with black arms and a red swirled dot on the back. His trousers varied from anything from a pair of old jeans to a slick pair of black designer trousers. Of course, he only had one pair of the black trousers. It had taken him a week's worth of top level gambling and as little food as possible to be able to afford them, consequently he'd been thrown out of that particular casino on accusations of cheating, even if they had been false accusations.

Konoha was relatively big on casinos as it seemed to be a good trade. He wasn't sure if any of the other lands were. The Sand definitely was as that was the casino capital, as it was often referred to as. Konoha was most notable for its number of gangs. The police did their best to stop a rise in the numbers as Konoha was responsible for 65 of the gangs in the land of fire alone.

The blond pulled his orange, woollen scarf slightly tighter around his neck as another cold blast of icy wind hit his face. He hoped he could reach his table before his face dropped off. It already felt like he didn't have any ears.

People had distrusted him from the start, being the orphan he was. In the school he went to there had been another orphan, Uchiha Sasuke by name, but he had been praised rather than beaten. He grew up with a kind of attitude that people loved, even though he shrugged everyone off. He'd also been a lot brighter so Naruto had worked as hard as he could have done to surpass him. Unfortunately it didn't work out that well. He hadn't seen many people from his school since he left. Naruto hadn't gone to college or university but he had kept a few ties with some people. He had stayed in touch with Rock Lee, the martial arts fanatic who had gone to try out to be some sort of bodyguard, and he seemed to bump into people like Kiba often enough.

He smiled pleasurably to himself when he remembered how he'd met his best friend. Naruto had gone into his guardians frequently used casino, also the first one he got kicked out of, to try the game for himself with his own money. Naruto had been adopted by Tsunade, the same one who had been at his parent's house on the night of the fire, on the pretence they had some sort of relation. They got on well enough, though Naruto didn't particularly enjoy her company on the late Friday nights. She'd got him into gambling from the fact she herself gambled so frequently. Of course, she sucked at it, giving her, her very own title of "legendary sucker".

As he'd been telling himself, he'd gone into the place looking for a free table, and had spotted one a little way off in the corner. It was being looked after by a rather pale man who looked to be only a year older than Naruto was at the time and Naruto was 14 when this actually happened, having sneaked into the casino out of boredom. The dealer was wearing black trousers, as all the staff were wearing, but instead of the usual white top he had been wearing a deep red shirt, the sleeves rolled up and the top two buttons undone. The most notable thing about him though was the thick black lines around his eyes that almost looked like eye liner, though through a trained eye Naruto had confirmed him as a person with insomnia. Considering he'd had nothing to lose he'd gone over and started playing. The game was blackjack because at the time it was the only one Naruto felt confident with. The dealer presented himself indeed as only 15 years old and named Gaara.

This had gone on for a while longer until the two had started getting used to each other, and steadily they became a lot friendlier. It was a couple of months later when they had both got kicked out of that casino together when there friendship had cemented, it hadn't occurred the two that they had desperately needed a friend having both lead equally boring and lonely lives, even though Gaara did have two siblings.

Two hours later, Naruto was being chased out of his casino by various casino doormen. He'd had the sense to grab the money he'd won before running of course. He wasn't that stupid.

_I don't get it with these baka's…_ He thought, seething angrily at every one of them. _I didn't DO anything! Just because these jerks don't want to lose money from an expert does not mean that…!_

"**Argh!**" He shouted soon after, his thought breaking in mid stride.

"**Stop squirming Naruto and this'll be a lot easier on both of us.**" came the strong voice from above him. In no time at all, this new guy had pinned him to the ground face first, with both arms behind his back and a knee in his crotch.

"**For fuck sake Kakashi!**" complained Naruto, tensing in pain and trying desparately to look around. "**Do you have to do that?!**"

Kakashi flinched as Naruto practically screamed the roof down. He sighed momentarily before getting up and pulling Naruto with him. He slammed Naruto flat against a nearby slot machine, knocking the wind completely out of Naruto's chest and causing dots of light to appear in front of the blonds' eyes.

"**Let's not get too rash now.**" Spoke Kakashi calmly, clinking a hand cuff onto Naruto's wrists. The blond moaned audibly whilst being carefully lead away. They pushed through the crowd that had gathered easily enough, no one wanting to come near enough to Naruto to have to touch him. His background was after all less than admirable.

Once safely in the main lobby Kakashi removed the cuffs from Naruto's wrists. The blond refused to acknowledge Kakashi and started slowly for the door.

"**Come on Naruto, you should know better than that.**" He began, putting on arm on Naruto's shoulder to stop him going.

"**What do you know? Your not chased out of every casino when you haven't even done anything wrong.**" accused Naruto, crossing his arms and pouting vaguely at the opposite wall.

"**I would have thought you, of all people, would have gotten used to this by now.**" Stated Kakashi, letting go the boy's shoulder, he replaced his cuffs carefully, trying not to catch them on his belt.

"**You don't get it Kakashi!**" Shouted Naruto, "**If I keep getting kicked out for things I DIDN'T DO I'm never going to keep any good source of income. No one takes me for any sorts of job I apply for, I applied for six damn jobs last month and only one of them even bothered sending me a fucking letter to 'politely' say I should try some other bloody time.**"

"**Calm down Kitsune.**" came a new voice from behind. Naruto swerved around in astonishment to see Gaara walking in calmly from the entrance to the left, his hands in his pockets. "**You do realise it's possible to hear you from outside, baka.**"

Naruto pouted again and went to leave, still moping about having been kicked out for at least the seventh time. Kakashi sighed openly again in anguish over what to do with the kid, before taking out his radio to receive another call.

From what Gaara could hear the oldest, and by far the worst, gang in Konoha had struck another warehouse and they needed as many man as they could to try and track them down. It was evening ordering those already on petty crimes to give it up and assist.

Gaara listened intently, whilst pretending to be doing nothing in particular while he waited for a chance for Naruto to have cooled down. The redhead considered what he was listening to and compared it to what the public was actually told. The name of the gang particularly interested him because names weren't usually given out. The gang was the smartest it seemed, as they were able to outsmart the police at every turn. They called themselves the Akatsuki and their logo was a black background with a simple red cloud. Gaara didn't think it was that much of a logo, comparing it to the gang run by someone called Orochimaru, which had a snake over three black commas as a logo. Gaara of course wasn't going to reveal how he actually new that.

It seemed the Akatsuki had struck the gaming warehouses now and had relieved the store of £500 worth of gaming equipment, which would probably pick up about twice that on the black market. Gaara didn't understand how it probably just would.

Deciding that he'd heard enough Gaara travelled back outside to see Naruto sitting on the curb with his knees pulled up around his chin, a distant unhappy look about his face.

"**You'll catch a cold sitting there for too long.**" Commented Gaara plainly, whilst adopting the same position though his head was raised and looking at Naruto in its usually passive manner. He would show emotion to Naruto sometimes, but certainly not in public.

"**Does it really matter? No one would care anyway…**" muttered Naruto. The red head scowled at his friend before finally getting up and pulling Naruto with him.

"**Kusoyaro.**" He muttered, evidently irritated by Naruto's lack of enthusiasm for life. "**You seriously need to get laid Naruto, or something like that. Come on, while we're on the subject I found a new bar you can get drunk at.**"

Naruto lifted his head briefly. "**What about you?**" He asked.

"**I don't drink remember?**"

"**Right…**"

* * *

Sure enough about an hour later Naruto had suitably been reacquainted with his favourite drink of Sake and Gaara with his Diet Coke, ice no lemon. Naruto had in fact already drunk roughly two bottles of sake and was half way through his third.

"**How does getting drunk help the situation?**" asked Gaara irritably whilst turning to look in some other direction.

"**You asked last time…**" mumbled Naruto.

"**Then answer again.**"

"**It'll make me feel better long enough to bother looking for another damned casino in this hell hole of a damn town in the middle of freaking no where.**" Naruto downed another glass just as the bar waitress presented another bottle. Neither Gaara or Naruto was paying attention to who it was so they didn't really converse on the subject much. "**what's so interesting out of the door?**" Asked Naruto, laying his head on the table and looking accusingly at Gaara.

"**What?**" Asked Gaara defensively, looking around quickly.

"**You're doing that thing where you're trying to check something out, I can tell…**" Explained Naruto reaching for his cup.

"**You're supposed to be drunk!**" Acussed Gaara hotly.

"**You know it takes a lot more drink to get me drunk, well another bottle at least.**" Commented Naruto, before dropping the subject and turning on his chair to view the rest of the room. This first thing that caught his eyes however was at the far end. Whilst gulping away at the sake he noticed a guy walking down what appeared to be a raised kind of platform. Then some music started, Naruto although not drunk still slightly tipsy couldn't have said what track the track was, and it seemed to Naruto that the guy was stripping.

Drinking a bit more it was finally starting to have some effect on him, so all he did was map the movements of his hips. Naruto couldn't have said anything else because rational thought seemed to have escaped him. He didn't notice Gaara head off towards the entrance and he certainly didn't feel anything when he finally hit the floor. He did however remember a very appealing dream in which the guy he'd been tracking featured alongside himself; though he only vaguely remembered it next morning anyway.

_**

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**_

_**AN: **_In all honesty, this chapter is absolute bull. _-Dies quietly in a corner-_

It might be a little while until they pick up unfortunately... I beleive the next chapter is another sort of plot setting, so it's just Naruto and his hangover, getting everyone moved into the right places, and then it picks up a little bit in chapter 4.  
The Yaoi kind of stuff doesn't happen for a while, and it's not even Sasuke and Naruto who are the first pairing to start being sorted out, even though it's centered on these two. Ah well, Just bare with me. I'm really slack with writing this thing, so... you'll really just have to bare with me if you read this. That's not too much to ask.

Reveiws and such are much appriciated. 3  
(I'm still annoyed at this for not letting me have various keys on my keyboard to work on this - . - )

- _Layalas_ -


	3. Hanging Over

**_AN:_** Okay, well I figured you guys would appriciate me actually uploading something here, considering I haven't done in a little while.

As I say, I'm a slow updated because I'm a slow writer, I'm sure people can understand that. This chapter is... probably one of my least favourits... which is diffuclt because I'm looking back at this wondering what I was doing. Hopefully my chapters will pick up... maybe...

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_**SasuNaru - It's a Hard Life  
Chapter 3**_

Naruto yawned and open his eyes vaguely. He was on the couch in his rented flat, which was somewhere in Konoha. His hangover was making his head hurt far too much too remember anything else other than that. Sighing, he rolled onto the floor in a bid to get up. His clumsiness however, caused him to just smash his head on the glass coffee table he owned.

"**Kuso!**" He swore, getting up quickly and clutching his head. He opened one eye to check everything was where it should be and what the time was.

The walls were plain white as was the style of the flats and it was a pretty small flat. It had one bedroom and a bathroom. The main room was half living room with one couch and an armchair, and half kitchen with an empty fridge and cupboards filled with ramen. He'd separated the ramen into his favourite in one cupboard and the things he ate for a change in the other. Then they were set out into flavours on the inside so he knew what was where. The time was 1:00. He assumed that because it was light outside that meant one in the afternoon.

He went over to his cupboard and checked inside. The beef was out and so was the egg fried one. In the other cupboard he'd run out of chicken. He was feeling boring though today so he reached into the second cupboard for the original flavour and set about preparing it.

Just as he went to sit at the breakfast bar part, which faced into the living room, he noticed a slip of paper on the side.

_Naruto,_

_Don't go out today. I've gone to sort some things out after a few things caught my eye. I'd prefer to know where to find you afterwards._

_Gaara._

He chuckled lightly and chucked the paper across the tabletop.

"**Like I'm going anywhere with this hangover…**" He muttered, eating the ramen quickly. Afterwards he looked briefly around his room before sulking back into his bedroom.

After opening the curtains and tidying up marginally he laid on the bed and reach under, pulling out a small little box in which a writing pad and a pen and pencil lay. Picking them all up and kicking the box back under the bed, he flipped open the first page. In it he'd drawn a small, rather rough picture of himself, smiling happily out of the page. He'd written some details about himself as well, but otherwise the page was blank.

On the second page there was a small picture of a nude man, though the figure seemed to be missing its head. There was also no writing on the page so Naruto skipped straight past it.

For the next few pages, an elaborate story was taking place in which Naruto and the mystery male seemed to be the main characters. In short, the mystery man was predominately torturing Naruto in a varied amount of ways. As the pages went on the different methods grew steadily more and more intricate and sophisticated. Dotting here and there about the page were also small sketches, though not in vast amounts of detail, of the assorted activities the couple were taking part in. Now and again Naruto would be seen assuming the role of uke, but otherwise he was the less dominate of the two.

There did come the point where it was beyond the realms of reality in what was happening but Naruto seemed to take no notice of the fact and continued writing as if it was a real life happening.

* * *

When Gaara came in a few hours later, he noted the cupboard was still hanging open. He would have commented about the door being open but he soon remembered it was because he'd picked the lock to get in. He noted that the sofa was unusually tidy for this time in the day. Sure the floor boards weren't the best in the world but this was, after all, one of the slightly cheaper flats in the building.

The TV that stood on a simple flat pack dresser opposite to the couch was also off which made Gaara wonder exactly what Naruto was doing. His usual remedy for a hangover was to drown himself in the TV considering it was the only time he'd use making, meaning he would still be able to afford the bill.

A light snore broke the silence from the bedroom, relieving Gaara. Lucky for him Naruto seemed to have forgotten suicide existed. He walked into the room casually enough; knowing Naruto probably wouldn't be able to hear him anyway. He noted Naruto's writing pad was out again so he picked it up to see what the blond had been composing and sketching this time. The text depicted two bodies intertwined on the bed with one pumping the others penis, before that particular stage got more heated and seemed to repeat the happenings of a previous chapter with a slight new twist. There weren't any clear pictures regarding who was who just yet, but he again assumed Naruto was the one on the bottom, skilfully running his hands along the apparent soft strong muscles of the others chest.

He flipped the pad shut and placed it and the writing equipment away before creeping back into the living room to check the TV and wait for Naruto to get up. He fell asleep for the shortest amount of time, yet was unfortunately reawakened by a certain advertisement. Though by that time he was too pissed off to bother which one it was before he began throwing silent fits of insult in the television general direction.

"**Morning…**" Mumbled Naruto, emerging from his room, still clothed from the night before.

"**It's evening, baka.**" responded Gaara, flicking off the TV. He was wearing dark trousers now, most likely black. As well as his deep red, or maroon, top with the sleeves rolled up and the top two buttons undone.

"**What are you trying to get?**" asked Naruto, heading into the bathroom to change.

"**I could ask you the same**." challenged Gaara, hiding his blush. Naruto just shrugged and carried on. He emerged in jeans and a normal orange T-shirt despite the cold.

"**Where were you today?**" He inquired, getting a diet coke from the fridge for the both of them. The blond was only just beginning to feel hurt because he hadn't had a chance to do his usual hangover cure antics this time around. It usually involved sexually attacking Gaara for a few hours before they both settled down on different chairs to watch some mindless TV show. Naruto never got anywhere with Gaara of course because he was far too good at fighting Naruto off. The most he ever got to do was make-out and that was only when the red head was feeling lonesome enough.

"**A job and the apartment next door,**" Answered Gaara casually enough, though Naruto started chocking on his drink. "**You're supposed to drink it, not choke on it.**"

"**Gaara!**" shouted Naruto dumbstruck, "**You got a job, and moved in next door?!**" Gaara himself winced at the blonds' loudness. The broadest grin stretched over his face and he bounced over to Gaara to hug him. He got as far as sitting next to him and leaning over because of their drinks.

"**I don't actually have the job until tomorrow.**" He corrected plainly. "**But yes, I do now live next door.**"

"**That's great news!**" Naruto laughed with joy, chocking on his drink again. This time he got a pat on the back off of Gaara because they were sitting next to each other. "**Hey, I got a question.**" started Naruto. He got an _'hm?'_ off of the red head so he continued without interruption. "**I had a weird dream last night about some stripper guy. He looked like the guy that was onstage in the bar you took me to last night.**" He ended there looking quizzically at Gaara. "**I wasn't just imagining that guy was I?**"

Gaara got up carefully and took a final sip of his coke and set it down. "**I asked Sakura about that for you.**" Naruto blinked in confusion. "**She was serving us. According to her that guy you couldn't take your eyes off was the Uchiha. You remember him don't you?**" Naruto chocked again and his eyes bulged even more in denial. Uchiha Sasuke. The guy he had hated to pieces in the school he'd gone to; the guy with all the popularity who acted as if nothing mattered. The one who acted like he owned everything yet was about as well off as he himself was. "**And to top things off.**" Continued Gaara, opening the door just in time to watch someone with raven hair close the door opposite and walk off. He hadn't seemed to see either Naruto or Gaara which was probably just as well. "**It looks like he lives just opposite.**" Then Naruto seemed to crack, a million denials and insults wanted to spring out at one. He settled for one word, which Gaara could hear even as he shut the door.

"**WHAT?!**"

* * *

**_AN:_** Ugh... I'm sorry, but I'm in opinion this chapter just completely fails... dies

I wrote this so terribly, but if I try and go back to change it I feel the next chapter I'm writing will suffer so very immensely. Please bear with me on this one, to all those deciding to read this.

I haven't much else to say... only that the manga is now irritating me for reason I'm sure many people could work out.  
And the anime is taking a very different turn, but I'm not really complaining about that, it's something new and unexpected.

Also, sorry if any characters are too OOC for some people, this is technically an AU so I figured they could change marginally. I think I've wrecked Gaara with all his blushing and stuff, which is quite odd because he's my favourite... anyhow, I do get him to stop with all the emotion stuff eventually. Don't quote me on when, I've can't wholly remember. Sorry dies again

Many thanks to my reviewers and anyone else so is reading this.

- _Layalas _-


	4. Showing Through

**_AN:_** Okay - Time for an Update I think.

The only thing for me to say up here would be:  
_Many Thanks to _**DemonicNightmaresOfAnAngel** _for reviewing this story._

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_**SasuNaru - It's a Hard Life  
Chapter 4**_

Naruto lay idly on his bed. He'd fallen asleep again and was now waking up towards the early hours of the day. He sighed heavily. All night he couldn't get the image of the guy from the bar out of his head, but at the same time he couldn't picture it properly anymore. Gaara had said it had been Sasuke, yet Naruto couldn't place Sasuke's head onto that perfectly formed body. He still kept seeing the annoying jerk from their younger years.

Eventually he got to hungry to think about it anymore and got up to get breakfast, an egg ramen of some description.

The light was seeping in peacefully through the shutters, giving a warm atmosphere to the room in front of him. Bar of light shone bright on the wall, illuminating the white walls with such power it them it rather difficult to look at them for any length of time. Naruto always got bored around about now. There was never anything he could do. Having checked the newspaper to find no new available jobs all he could really do was sit at home and wait for evening hours.

Then again, Gaara lived next door now so he could always chill with him. They might not do much but it was better to do nothing with company than to do so on your own.

* * *

"**That's five to me Gaara.**" gloated Naruto, spinning one of the poles of players on the table.

Gaara merely grunted in distaste before resetting the score on his side and picking out the ball again. He evidently didn't like being beaten on his own table football. Naruto grinned happily, resetting his own score and waiting for Gaara to start.

It had taken him a few hours to be sure, but he'd finally picked himself up to go bug Gaara, only to find him lying on the sofa in the same state of boredom. The blond was impressed to find his red head friend owned a football table, so they'd spent the rest of the day playing. Or rather, Gaara had spent the rest of the day losing.

"**Gaara, you suck so bad at this.**" Commented Naruto, landing another ball in the goal, bring his score to six consecutive wins now.

"**hn!**" retorted Gaara, slamming down on his players in obvious displeasure. He didn't speak much again; instead he just went to his coat rack and picked up his own coat ready to go out.

Naruto looked up, noting the time. 8:45. Gaara's shift must start at 9 then. The blond pouted as he went to get his own coat to follow.

"**You're such a sore loser…**" He complained, just as Gaara opened the door. He stepped to the side to let Naruto past. The blond muttered his thanks as he made his way to the landing, turning and stopping dead.

Sasuke was along the end of the corridor, his dark raven hair swaying slightly with his movements. He was walking casually enough to the stairs, his hands dug deep into his pockets, and a look on his face suggesting he was particularly angry at something. Just as Sasuke reached the stairs he threw a look back down the corridor and caught sight of Naruto, standing there looking as if somebody had just killed him. He hesitated a second, before scowling, muttering something under his breath and continuing down the stairs as if nothing had happened.

Naruto's mouth was clamped shut so tightly his lips were beginning to turn white. Gaara came out behind him and locked his door casually, ignoring Naruto entirely. Eventually Naruto burst, screaming _Baka!_ at the very top of his voice, meaning Gaara had to put fingers in both his ears to even have a chance at not becoming deaf.

"**What's so bad about it? You seemed happy to see him a couple of night's ago.**" asked Gaara obliviously. Naruto growled and stalked out of the apartment block indignately, though he did have to wait for Gaara at the bottom considering he didn't know where the bar was. Naruto had been either very depressed or very drunk on his visit there, so he couldn't exactly remember the directions.

* * *

The bar vibrated with energy as the music played energetically inside. People lined up orderly enough waiting to be allowed in. This wasn't technically a private bar but the manager liked to know who was coming in, what they had on them, and of course, it kept out the undesirables.

Lee loved his job. It had been exactly like he wanted it to be. A bodyguard of sorts; keeping people in order. He had the perfect body for it. Pale enough and he didn't look that strong. That was how he became so effective. People didn't expect what came at them at all. He was a master in all forms of taijutsu and other martial arts. As was his body guard partner, Gai. He was a lot older than Lee was, so they had a good father son relation coming. He smiled politely, holding the door open for the two girls he'd just let it.

Lee blinked afterwards in mild shock before an even bigger grin stretched across his face.

"**Hey Naruto!**" The black haired boy smirked and kept the door open easily with his foot. "**And lovely to see you again to Gaara.**" Lee added on the end. Gaara looked up somewhat lost for words, the smallest blush appearing under his eyes. Naruto looked over to Gaara in mild surprise by it all but made no comment just yet. It seemed to him Gaara was short on words for a completely different reason this time.

"**You're more awake this time I see.**" continued Lee, completely oblivious to the whole ordeal.

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "**Hai… I came back to get a better idea of the place. And Gaara got a job here as well!**"

Lee's face changed to that of mute astoundment before he clapped Gaara on the back, giving him the thumbs up. "**That's great to hear you're doing well in life.**" Gaara on the other hand looked as though he'd just been chocked. Mumbling a thank-you the red head continued on into the bar leaving Naruto and Lee to talk at the door.

"**I haven't seen you in ages, Bushy Brow.**" started Naruto. "**Sorry I missed you last time, I was a little down.**"

"**I noticed that part.**" joked Lee, opening the door for another group of people. "**It was Gai who was on the door when you got there anyway.**"

"**Gai? You mean your old martial arts teacher?**" Naruto pouted, confused about the whole martial arts thing now. Unless Lee just had a knack for meeting people called Gai.

"**Hai. About a week after I found my job here, Gai got given a job along side me.**" He smiled happily. "**It was very good news indeed. Aren't you supposed to be checking out the bar?**"

Naruto blinked. "**Oh… yeah! I almost completely forgot that bit!**" The blond laughed and turned to enter. "**We gotta meet up some time you know, get re-acquainted after not seeing one another for a few years.**"

"**We can talk about it next time you come by.**" Lee nodded and held open the door for Naruto, and a male couple who were walking in behind him.

The blond looked around the place more closely this time, noting how it was actually set out. All along the left hand wall there was a sitting place which was roughly the width of Naruto's own apartment and in the far left corner was quite a long bar. The casino section took up the center of the room towards the back, whereas the bit Naruto was almost standing in was where people danced to the music being played for the strippers who took up the right side of the room. Partitions separated each section slightly, but otherwise it was one very big, very energectic room.

There weren't as many lights for the casino part, and the stripping isle and bar were lit up with the same neon blue glow. It seemed only to be the dance area that had flashy bright lights, which were currently making Naruto's head hurt. He frowned and walked over to the casino area.

He could see two roulette tables, a group of nine slot machines, three blackjack tables all next to each other, four poker tables, several dice games and one area for cashing in the chips you won in poker. The desk had two slots to make transactions from. All in all, Naruto thought this was a very good place. It was clean and everyone was either laughing or talking friendly to each other.

_Hopefully I won't get thrown out of here… I wonder who the manager is anyway…_ He shrugged and moved between the slot machines over to where Gaara stood. He was juggling a pack of cards in his hands looking out glumly onto the scene in front of him. Every now and again, when there wasn't much of a crowd Naruto noticed his eyes travelled to the door where he could see Lee still letting people in.

"**How long do you think you could deal me before people got irritated with any good streaks I get?**" asked Naruto, sitting directly in front of Gaara and crossing his arms in front of him. He dug into his pocket and presented Gaara with his betting

"**I wouldn't worry about that here, Naruto,**" Answered Gaara, shuffling the cards again and dealing them out. "**This place never throws anyone out.**"

"**Sure?**" The blond picked up his hand, motioning for another card.

"**Sure.**" he repeated, throwing the card to Naruto, face down. Naruto picked it up and layed all his cards down.

"**I got 20.**" Gaara flipped over his cards and dealt himself a few. He smirked a few seconds later.

"**Bust.**"

* * *

After a few hours at Gaara's table, Naruto had picked up about £100 which was a good night to him. He'd then left Gaara to other devices and went to grab a drink at the bar.

Sakura, her hair as pink as ever, was just cleaning up another few bottles before laying them down and slinging the towel over her shoulder. Her emerald green eyes lit up warmly when Naruto came over.

"**Come to stare at Sasuke again from afar?**" She teased, leaning on the bar table in front of him.

Naruto just scowled and ordered his sake. He wasn't about to admit that was half the reason. "**If you're not careful I'll just leave and not buy anything.**"

"**True.**" Mused Sakura, cleaning another glass to make herself look active. She directed her gaze down the bar, where her eyes rested on the other barwomen and sighed. Naruto followed her gaze before he started chocking on his drink again.

"**Naruto! You're supposed to drink it, not choke on it!**" Sakura scowled disapprovingly and handed him a napkin to clean his face.

"**Is that Ino?!**" He demanded, ignoring how irritably close that was to something Gaara had said the day before.

Sakura looked a little taken back. "**Yeah… you've only just noticed?**" She placed her hands on her hips a look passing over her face that suggested she was wondering whether Naruto had been living under a rock.

"**Who else is here that I know?**" asked Naruto, calming down slightly; enough to sit back down on his chair at least.

"**Let's see…**" mused Sakura, crossing her arms with one hand up to her chin. "**People that I know here… Sasuke – duh, Sai's often on the walkway around the same time as him. Ino's here. Lee and Gai are on the door.**"

Naruto's face sank. So far there was only Sai that Sakura had mentioned that he didn't know about.

"**Jiraiya often visits that side. Iruka comes for the bar. Kakashi visit him when he's not working. I've seen Asuma help deal with anyone Lee has to knock out… Tenten and Neji come by now and again to see Lee. Hinata checks on Kiba and Akamaru who go for the casino.**"

Naruto was surprised he hadn't heard Tsunade's name come up for that yet but let it pass.

"**If I've seen anyone else they've slipped my mind.**" finished Sakura, glancing back over to Ino, who was dishing out several drinks at once.

"**What do you mean Kakashi visits Iruka? Are they out with each other?**" blurted out Naruto suddenly, having passed the last part through his head again.

"**Have been for a few months now.**" answered Sakura, moving away to serve someone else a little way down.

Naruto mumbled a thanks and left the bar, finding his feet where dragging him steadily over to the left of the club. He blinked in surprise when he saw himself at a good enough distance from the strip lane to see every clearly. It reminded him of a cat walk, the curtains were drawn and various people walked through them now and again. He guessed the changing rooms were there for the people using the cat walk.

Looking over the section it seemed there were six people out at once spread along the length of the ilse. Three boys and three girls to keep everyone interested at once. The blond felt a lump rise in his throat when his eyes passed briefly over Sai, of whom he had only just recognised. The pale skinned male had been facing the other way but they all seem trained enough to give people ample time to view all areas before walking off.

Naruto sighed and looked over the lane again. He wasn't that interested in the girls up there, which surprised him really. He thought he'd be acting like some of the other guys around him. That seemed to make him feel more uneasy about the day before yesterday.

Shaking his head he looked back up at the strippers, his heart skipping a beat a few minutes later. A few metres along, the raven himself was walking back down the catwalk, a stark white top slung over his shoulders. Naruto felt his face heat up and turn red. Sasuke of course spotted him, hesitating for a few seconds at the site of him. Naruto could have sworn he saw Sasuke blush to but the male looked away far to quickly for Naruto to be able to see if it was real or just Naruto's mind being hopeful.

Not wanting to stay any longer, as a rather tight knot was forming in his gut, Naruto downed the last of his sake and made his way home.

_I hate myself sometimes…_

* * *

**_AN: _**So shoot me for being the slowest thing in the world. I'm losing hope with half my writing at the moment! Plus I don't give myself time any more, which doesn't help...

Moving on, I don't know when the next chapter will be, I only know that I currently suck at getting chapter 7 actually written. I know what's going to happen in it, I just can't get it down onto the page. Bleh...

- _Layalas_ -


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